Ten short pieces directed by ten different directors, including Ken Russell, Jean-Luc Godard, Robert Altman, Bruce Beresford, and Nicolas Roeg. Each short uses an aria as soundtrack/sound, and is an interpretation of the particular aria.

A nearly wordless visual narrative intercuts two main stories and a couple of minor ones. A woman, perhaps the Madonna, brings forth her baby to a crowd of intrusive paparazzi; she tries to flee them. Two men who are lovers marry and are arrested by the powers that be. The men are mocked and pilloried, tarred, feathered, and beaten. Loose in this contemporary world of electrical-power transmission lines is also Jesus. The elements, particularly fire and water, content with political power, which is intolerant and murderous.

Derek Jarman's interpretation of the aria 'Depuis le jour' from the final act of Gustave Charpentier's opera Louise (1900) features Aimée Delamain as an aging opera singer taking her final bow and recalling a love affair from her youth. As the aria goes: 'Et je tremble délicieusement au souvenir charmant du premier jour d'amour! (And I tremble deliciously at the delightful memory of the first day of love!)' – Her reveries feature Tilda Swinton and Spencer Leigh wandering around the topiaries of Swinton's family garden and at various seaside locations. The film was made for Aria (1987), the portmanteau project of producer Don Boyd who invited ten directors to create short films set to operatic arias of their choice. The particular performance used in Depuis le jour is by esteemed African-American soprano Leontyne Price.

A retelling of the life of the celebrated 17th-century Baroque painter Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio through his brilliant, nearly blasphemous paintings and his flirtations with the underworld.

During World War I, British soldier Owen is mortified by the examples of cruelty that surround him in the trenches. He combats these terrifying images by maintaining hope in his love for an army nurse. But he also begins to accept his fate as another battlefield sacrifice.

When the young, attractive Joe Orton meets the older, more introverted Kenneth Halliwell at drama school, he befriends the kindred spirit and they start an affair. As Orton becomes more comfortable with his sexuality and starts to find success with his writing, Halliwell becomes increasingly alienated and jealous, ultimately tapping into a dangerous rage.

Leon, a hacker convicted for a crime he did not commit, escapes from detention centre following the death of his father, to take revenge on the man who really did it.

Following his great success with "North by Northwest," director Alfred Hitchcock makes a daring choice for his next project: an adaptation of Robert Bloch's novel "Psycho." When the studio refuses to back the picture, Hitchcock decides to pay for it himself in exchange for a percentage of the profits. His wife, Alma Reville, has serious reservations about the film but supports him nonetheless. Still, the production strains the couple's marriage.

The artist's personal commentary on the decline of his country in a language closer to poetry than prose. A dark meditation on London under Thatcher.